The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

Think about this.

1- Philadelphia are a great team. But, they showed signs of being human against the Steelers. McNabb had a horrible day. And their offensive production was abysmal. They can be beat.

2- New York Giants have lost two of their last three. The last one to a woeful Chicago Bears team. They gave up 28 points to the Bears and looked pathetic. Strife in the locker room is back again, and changes are being made mid-week. Are they REALLY that good? Did they peak too soon? Is the honeymoon over?

3- Dallas, after a good start, appear to be on a downward spiral with no end in sight. It seems like they're getting worse and worse, and have made mistakes in the last three weeks that make a Steve Spurrier team look good. The Cowobys are a team in disarray after a fluke season last year. Parcells has huge problems in the talent department, and his team appear to be sliding fast.

4- The Redskins have yet to get good production from their QB, but Portis is starting to show what he's made of. The Defense can and will keep us in every game. After a relatively poor opening couple of games (the 1st carry of the season excluded) Portis is starting show flashes of brilliance. Gibbs is notorious for picking it up a notch in the last half of the season (see his record in this area), and there's still plenty of ball left to play. Brunell, while having a very poor season, is still confident and relatively free of mistakes. IF, and it's a big IF, he starts to produce, the dynamic of the NFC east could change dramatically.

Moral of the story: Don't EVER count out a Joe Gibbs team!



I'm not predicting playoffs, although it would be nice, but I am predicting some consistently competitive football from the Redskins that will set the groundwork for the next few years. While NY and Dallas are slowly but surely playing worse, the Redskins are slowly but surely playing better, smarter football. Dallas are 3-5 and lucky not to be 1-7. The Redskins are 3-5 and with just a little bit of luck and better officiating could be 7-1. It'll all balance out in the end.

Let's keep the faith guys!!

JP - I think that was a freudian slip (or maybe intentional?) to put us at 5-3!

I agree and am looking forward to this w/e.

Hope springs eternal.

WOOOOPS!

As long as we don't put air under the wings of NY and Dallas like we already have this year (if NY goes anywhere this year the Skins should get a big GIFT Basket). Geez I still get upset about those games and the Cleveland game. NY and Dallas have to be beaten next time up - these are teams we should beat and haven't yet.

But yes, I think we will be a better second half of the season team, but it ain't gonna be easy with Philly twice, the Steelers, Vikings(?) and Dallas who we have to prove we can beat again.

I will be pulling for Brunell as usual this Sunday, keep your fingers crossed and anything else that works.

The thing that upsets me is we have the defense to beat these teams but..........................................

I don't know about playoffs, but I do know this team is getting better.

Hmm, let's say that we beat Cincy and Philly in the next two weeks. All of the sudden, we're 5-5 on a hot streak with the rest of the season wide open. Philly, in the mean time, loses next week and even stumbles against us (unrealistic, but you never know). They drop down to a few games ahead of us.

The division would still be theirs, probably, but with 6 games to go we could make our own destiny.

Just saying, is all. . .

thats a good point we are playing better every week i havent look at it like that

JPFair wrote:Think about this.

1- Philadelphia are a great team. But, they showed signs of being human against the Steelers. McNabb had a horrible day. And their offensive production was abysmal. They can be beat.

By the Steelers...

I'm not predicting playoffs, although it would be nice, but I am predicting some consistently competitive football from the Redskins that will set the groundwork for the next few years.!!

That is ONE of the very few things in your message we will agree to without a passing game...

But it is an important thing to agree upon.

Lets see, i went to the packer-redskin game and we obviously won that game 21-13 but the refs were HORRIBLE!!!!! and if it werent for the ravens running back a punt and a fumble, we wouldve won, and if we hadn't used all of our timeouts vs dallas we couldve won in overtime, if the giants hadnt scored a defensive touchdown we wouldve won that game 14-13 so yeah the only loss should be to the browns so far because of the horrible turnovers and whatnot

andyjens89 wrote:Lets see, i went to the packer-redskin game and we obviously won that game 21-13 but the refs were HORRIBLE!!!!! and if it werent for the ravens running back a punt and a fumble, we wouldve won, and if we hadn't used all of our timeouts vs dallas we couldve won in overtime, if the giants hadnt scored a defensive touchdown we wouldve won that game 14-13 so yeah the only loss should be to the browns so far because of the horrible turnovers and whatnot

And if we had ALL of those wins, We would not have DESERVED them IMO.

Sure the games have been close but all games will be close when your defense plays great and your offense stinks.

Defense #1 in the league
Ofense #29 in the league Any questions?

Philly doesn't have to "stumble" against us. All we have to do is play our game. Did you see TO sniping at McNugget ? That team is beginning to come apart at the seams. The running game is PUP, and the passing game has been exposed.
Unseating the Eagles is not an easy task, but nothing ever is in this league, and it can be done.

I think the second half of the season will be much improved for the skins. It was evident last week when the coaches made use of zone blocking much more which is the most effective way to RUN block in todays NFL (IMO). I think these great coaches are catching up and as their systems adapt the offense will surley improve. I dont know how much adjusting needs to be done to make Brunell an effective QB but as long as he is error free and makes a few plays throwing/running (first downs) we will be in good shape come the second half. As long as we dont ask brunell to win us games (falling behind early and asking him to throw over 30-35 passes) we will be ok, that puts a lot of burden on portis and the defense but at this point that is all we got (special teams and field position will also be crucial). It is definetly possible to win 8 games this year but more likely we are looking at 7-9 at best i think.

Good point JP everyone knows you can run on Philly. The talk here in Philly is that Trotter is starting Simieno is moving outside and Wayne is moving to the bench.